Political power is drying up in West Texas

Political power drying up in West TexasAs population fades, rural areas fear they’ll no longer have a voice

JEANNIE KEVER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE |
April 18, 2011

The political transformation of Texas is almost complete, as power follows the population to the cities and suburbs, leaving vast stretches of rural West Texas and the Panhandle with fewer representatives in Austin and Washington, D.C.

"The voice for anything west of Interstate 35 has diminished every time there is a redistricting," said Pete Laney, a Democrat from Hale Center who spent 34 years in the Texas House , including a decade as speaker.

Most of the discussion during the current round of redistricting — redrawing political boundaries based on the 2010 Census - has been centered around translating the state's growing Latino population into more Latino local, state and national officeholders.

But West Texans worry that, after producing generations of political leaders, they are being shut out of decisions that will shape their futures.

"We are small, rural West Texas, but the education of my children is just as important as any child in Texas," said Guillermo Mancha, superintendent of the 475-student Culberson County-Allamore Independent School District. "I already feel under-represented. The representatives I do have represent more communities. That translates into less voice."

The changes, in the making for decades and sure to accelerate with redistricting, reflect the shifting reality of Texas, a state that is increasingly urban and suburban.

The people left behind are bracing for the fallout: less money for small schools that must transport children long distances, pressure to consolidate school districts and even counties, fewer highway improvements and reduced funding for health care and other services.

The current budget cuts will affect all parts of the state, of course, but West Texans worry that future decisions will be made primarily by people with little connection to the barren scrublands where the consequences will play out.

"It's very concerning," said John Benham, superintendent of the Wink-Loving Independent School District. The district takes in $14 million in property taxes, generated by the currently booming oil and gas fields, but sends more than half to the state, to be redistributed to "property-poor" districts elsewhere.

"We don't think that's fair," Benham said, noting that small districts have challenges that urban areas do not. "But if you live in Houston, you think, 'Why are they able to keep all that money?' "

Increasingly, rural areas will be linked with suburban or urban areas in ever-larger districts.

Different in the past

"It's the passing of an influence, as districts that only represent rural Texas are becoming fewer," said Tyron Lewis, R-Odessa, who also represents rural Andrews and Winkler counties.

He said there are 19 House members from west of Interstate 35, a number expected to drop to 17 or 18. Harris County, by comparison, has 25.

It hasn't always been this way.

"For decades, we've had more power in rural areas than their population has necessarily warranted," Cross said.

Laney served as speaker from 1993 until 2003, followed by Tom Craddick of Midland.

But efforts to win the post by a third West Texan, Warren Chisum of Pampa, fizzled earlier this year, as Joe Straus, who represents San Antonio, one of the largest urban areas, was re-elected to a second term.

The ranks of possible successors are thin.

Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, "is probably the only one on the horizon right now," Laney said.

His district encompasses 26 counties in the Panhandle and the Permian Basin, including the cities of Amarillo, Midland and Odessa. It has 17,108 fewer people than in 2000, indicating it will gain even more counties in redistricting.

Common goals

"We want kids to have a good public school system, whether they live in the city or the country," he said, listing nursing homes and services for children with developmental disabilities as other common goals.

Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics project at the University of Texas at Austin, said common interests will allow rural politicians to remain coalition players in the Legislature.

"But inevitably, there are going to be fewer of them," he said.

And the iconic larger-than-life Texas figure will continue to fade to a more generic, modern version.

No more Wilsons

Laney and Craddick "are the soul of what it means to be Texan, the 1950s Hollywood version," said Sean Theriault, a government professor at UT.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, on the other hand, "personifies this businessman-law-and-order Republican," he said. "You can imagine John Cornyn representing Minnesota or Iowa."

And that's the point, Theriault said.

"Texas politics is going to look a whole lot more like John Cornyn than (colorful longtime East Texas congressman) Charlie Wilson," he said. "The days of Dick Armey and Tom DeLay are gone."